Garrett made his way through the crowd of beggars without care for appearance or noise.
He wordlessly nudged people aside, ducking between narrow gaps of conversation without notice, apology or consequence.
His eyes pinned on the cloaked figure that was darting through the same crowd nearly as frantically as he was making his way through.
The figure was familiar, painfully so, tugging at his heart in a way Garrett was sure would break him if he was wrong…
Oh Stars, please don't let him be wrong.
Garrett skulked closer, until his resolve began to crumble…
Garrett found himself staring at the stranger's back, hardly ten feet from him, surrounded by scruffy beggars who whispered and watched with bated breath, falling quiet, quiet enough for Garrett to hear the stranger's voice...
Oh Stars, how long had it been?
"Please, I was told that my son was here." The stranger said to an old krone of a beggar, hunched and withered, silently glowering up at him with sunken, bitter eyes.
"You stole my daughter…" The woman said in lieu of a proper answer, her accent sharp, voice clear despite her appearance, Garrett didn't know her, but he knew of her.
"Yes." Artemus sneered, in a way Garrett had never heard before.
"We stole your daughter. We stole her and we have her warmth and food and an education and a family and a new name." Artemus rambled, his voice beginning to tremble.
"We call her Keeper Favrim, she's a teacher, now will you please tell me where my son is!"
The old krone glowered up at the Keeper, her expression scrunched up, disgruntled, disgusted, and through crooked, rotted teeth she sneered again;
"You stole my daughter."
Artemus let loose a vicious snarl of contempt as he turned on his feet to stalk away from the krone, presumably deeper into the crowd to try and find any lead from any one.
For a moment, Garrett saw Artemus' face, twisted in hideous, sick distress.
He was furious, angrier than Garrett had ever seen. And had that expression been on anyone elses' face, Garrett was sure that death would be on the horizon.
But it wasn't just anyone… It was Artemus…
Artemus who wasn't just angry. It was Artemus, a worried father, desperately seeking his lost children in the midst of anarchy.
It was Artemus, who upon catching a mere glimpse of Garrett froze.
It was Artemus, whose range and fury and sorrow and fear melted away the moment he saw Garrett.
It was Artemus who wordlessly began to make his way over to Garrett.
And it was Garrett who abandoned all pretenses to run at his father.
The second he collided with the familiar body, two arms wrapped around him, one settling around his side to curl around his ribcage, the other around his shoulder to cradle the back of his head, guiding him to a shoulder.
Likewise clung to his father, his fingers tangling in the sturdy fabric of his cloak. And like a child he wept.
He wept and screamed and howled over and over; "I'm sorry." into his father's throat as Artemus held them up.
Garrett's chest burned with every cry to tumble from his aching throat, his eyes itched as tears fell, staining his cheek and the bandages he still stubbornly wore around his right eye.
"You're alright." Artemus murmured softly, despite the fragility of his voice, just wavering on a sob, Garrett could tell he was close to breaking down too.
"You're alright, you're alright Garrett, you're safe, you're safe, Stars you're safe."
Artemus wouldn't break however, he couldn't afford to, he was a father, and his children needed him to be strong, so he would be strong, for however long they needed him to...